How Out Are You?

We live in a religion dominated world. Over the last few years atheists have been more public with our lack of belief in imaginary deities. The OutCampaign has helped that a lot, but how “out” are you? How “out” should we be?

When I go out to a store or a mall, it is not unusual for me to see someone wearing a religious shirt. Often times those shirts are actually aggressively religious. It goes without saying that Christians and Jews wear religious necklaces like the crucifix or a Jewish star. There are also a ton of religious bumper stickers on cars.

Should atheists wear shirts and necklaces that identify us as atheists? Do you have those things and how often do you wear them? I have a few atheist shirts, but I usually only wear them to atheist meetings and/or events. I worry that if I wore them while out in the general public, my family and I might be the victim of violence. I doubt very much that Christians have that same fear from atheists. What does that say about them?

I want to know what other atheists have experienced in this regard. I have not received a lot of problems from my atheist bumper sticker, but that is I think in large part due to the fact that on the road there isn’t much people can do. I have once been solicited by a Christian at a gas station though and have had some college kids yelling about god as they drove passed me. But nothing really violent has come from my bumper sticker. This might be in part due to the fact that people are more accustom to being bombarded with bumper stickers with messages they don’t agree with. But I think an atheist shirt in a Wall-mart may cause a larger issue. What do you think?

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I have a Darwin fish and a "My God can beat up your God" license surround. That is about as abbrasive as I get. I am going to be getting an Out campaign shirt. I see it more as letting others who are nonbelievers know that there are people out there like them and that its okay for them to be themselves. Hiding away isn't the answer.

I think that a lot of it has to do with personal tastes or personality types. I find a lot of those religous types obnoxious and I certainly don't want to be like them but just with an opposite view. I'm an atheist but that isn't all that I am and I don't feel the need to constantly let people know that I'm an atheist. Plus, I don't have a mandate from any person, thing, or doctrine to turn everyone else into an atheist. All I ask for is to be able to live my life and have the same rights as everyone else. If somebody gets confrontational about trying to deny me those things then I'll get confrontational right back but I don't walk around constantly trying to make a point.